Words of the Matrix
by Itanu
Summary: After witnessing a certain boy genius's capabilities, a certain verdant cyborg realizes the potential of an alliance. Now, to stop Hacker, the Cybersquad must also face a new opponent, and join heads together with a new ally. Chapter Five is in Progress!
1. Enter: the Geniuses

Welcome, fellow creative minds, to the first chapter of this story. This is the first of many things for me. For one, it's my first story posted on the 'net in a LONG time. As in, about half a year, at least. Secondly, it's my first fanfiction using the Cyberchase and Wordgirl settings. Finally, this is my first published crossover, though, hopefully, more are soon to come.

I do not own Cyberchase or Wordgirl or any underlying components of either show. They are both trademarks of PBS, and Wordgirl is also a trademark of Soup2Nuts.

Now, we start. Enjoy!

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* * *

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_Beep… beep… beep… beep… _

The sounds of all sorts of cybernetic constructs and monitors filled the fairly-sized foyer-like cockpit. It wasn't loud, really- so quiet was it, in fact, that it only magnified the effect of the lonely silence that would be there without them. This was certainly taking its toll on a figure sitting at the main control console.

Hacker sighed, as he rested his head on his hand. The same cycle of mental energy had been going on for what felt like full hours, now. His eyes would occasionally travel up to look at Cyberspace's vast expanses- which would only return his mind to his goal of taking it all.

What was wrong with him ruling Cyberspace? Why did everyone object to him taking hold of what was rightfully his? Fair enough, he had proven several times over the extent of what he was willing to do to get his way… but…

Not wanting to continue in a direction where he couldn't give- and wasn't getting- any answers, the green-skinned Elvis-like cyborg ventured to another question: What was wrong with his plans? Every time he concocted an ingenious way to destroy Motherboard and seize Cyberspace, Dr. Marbles would invent something to foil it, or another villain jealous of his absolutely unrivalled brilliancy would stand in the way (Wicked, of course, was the most prominent example). Many times, his former henchman Digit would help to get in the way, too. However, there was no denying that none of these would happen if it weren't for the _real _obstacles: those darn kids. Or, in their own words, the "Cybersquad".

Yes, for almost three years now, those three youth had been coming in and stomping on his plans consistently. Throughout this whole time thinking to himself, even Hacker knew that really, it was pointless to ask why they would beat him every time- he knew as well as anyone. Oh, to think that he always ended up relying on an obstacle to the Cybersquad's progress that doubled as a puzzle just waiting to be solved… it made him shudder in shame. Be it common Mathematics skills, or just plain common sense, they were always beating his conquest tactics with things most elementary students should know.

"Hey, Boss!" a gruff voice sounded from behind the chair. Hacker flinched in surprise, looked behind him, then shuddered. A short robot with a face unanimous with his body and arms and legs tinier than the rest of him was standing in the middle of the room. It was Buzz, Hacker's incompetent, donut-loving henchman.

"Buzz… I am in the midst of wallowing in my shame-" Hacker thought about this. He then corrected himself with a bluff: "Er, uh, I mean… coming up with a new plan to rule Cyberspace. Why are you choosing now, of all times, to barge in?"

Buzz knew what the Boss had really been thinking. But, letting it slide for sake of his job- and possibly his survival- he continued, "We got the machine ready."

"You came in here for that?!" The green man exclaimed angrily as he got out of his chair and raised his fist, causing Buzz to cower, "Why, I-" Hacker paused. Buzz didn't leave his cowering posture, though. Hacker seemed to stare into space for a bit. Then, a smile graced his face.

"Ah, yes, I forgot! My Trans-World Board!" Hacker said in realization, "Excellent! Let's test it out."

* * *

_Tick… tock… tick… tock… _

There was nary a sound in the room, save for the passing of the clock's hands. Granted, a bit of paper rustling here, and whirring of the computers there, but other than that, it was almost deathly silent. Of course, the fact that only a librarian and one visitor were there probably had a lot to do with that.

"Hm... let's see now..." a lone voice with a slight British accent muttered. The shaded figure whom it came from trailed his finger across the row of books, "Nope... not this one... no... I would think not... why is it there's such a limited selection?"

Theodore McCallister III, or Tobey, as he preferred to be called, sighed in disappointment, adjusting his glasses. He had been searching for thirty minutes for a book on Nanotechnology- a search that had yielded no results. How was he possibly going to improve the Artificial Intelligence of his robots if he couldn't even get a viable source of information?

Tobey walked out from between the aisles over to an armchair to sit down and relax. This, however, was futile; every time he sat down to relax- which he had been doing repeatedly since he had arrived at the library- he'd think about what he did know about AI, which would lead him to ultimately think about the same question: What was wrong with him?

Two weeks prior, he had let one of his fifty-foot robots get out of control and attack a local grocery store. And, as was usual, he was grounded for the destruction it caused.

_'Confounded Machine,'_ Tobey cursed as he remembered the incident, '_I was aiming for the Bowling Alley.'_ Still, it was good enough, he supposed. At least it wasn't the store _his_ mother went to. But what really bugged him was the fact that he probably would've been able to enjoy seeing the destruction, even if it wasn't his original target, if it wasn't for that one person who made his life so confusing: Wordgirl.

Goodness, how he loved- how he _loathed_- that girl. Every time he got angry at the world, he'd set anywhere from one to fifty of his robots on whatever insufferable places (and sometimes, people) were ruining his life. Nothing wrong with that, right? Justice. Then... _she_ comes along. The city's superheroine. Always showing up with her freakish super speed, strength, and flying ability; displaying her obnoxious, enlightening vocabulary; destroying his robots and making those snobby, intelligent remarks; batting those gorgeous eyelashes and adjusting those beautiful, curly locks...

Not wanting to continue with thoughts that went absolutely nowhere at all, he stood back up and went over to check out the books once more. Maybe there was something on Psychology- that'd be close enough.

* * *

Hacker gazed in pride and awe at his creation- The Trans-World Board, a huge screen overlooking a control panel. The recent incident that led to its creation played in his mind like a record:

_Hacker groaned in annoyance. He'd been waiting in the Cockpit for the refeuling and restocking of his ship, the Grim Wreaker, to be finished since those hours ago that he'd landed in this desolate part of Happily Ever After's Southernmost continent- partially so he could refeul without getting arrested, and partially to avoid being in the same neighborhood as Wicked. __This time, though, he wasn't looking for anything to help him rule Cyberspace. Nope, he was taking a break from his usual hobby-slash-mission. Right now, he just wanted a place to stock up on necessities. After all, cyborgs or not, Hacker and his henchmen had to eat. In particular, the feul pipe had been clogged, preventing long-term travel._

_"Hey, Mistuh," A blue cyborg in plumber attire called as he passed through to the exit, "Yo' pipe's workin' again. Found this in the system." The Feul-Plumber handed over a piece of paper coated with oil. The blue cyborg left without another word, knowing better than to ask the lunatic twice about a payment that had already been made._

_Hacker looked closely at the piece of paper, as he rubbed some of the oil off. He squinted now, trying to figure out the writing on it. He then realized what it was. He pulled a sharpie out of his chest pocket, got another piece of paper, and started to take notes._

"Hey, Boss!" an elated voice blared, snapping the Hacker out of his flashback. He looked down- and, as suspected, it was Delete, his incompetent, animal-loving henchman. Slightly taller and a lot thinner than Buzz, and possessing a head and neck separate from his body, Delete was also a cyborg of Hacker's creation.

"Boss!" Delete continued, bouncing up and down, "We did it, we recharged the machine!"

"I know..."

"Oh! Buzz musta told you! Anyway, it's right over there, so-"

"I know! Now let me get by!"

Delete got the message and backed off without a sound. The green cyborg now walked up to the control panel. He then cracked his knuckles and starting dialing some buttons, and adjusting a few levers. Buzz and Delete looked at each other nervously.

"So... er, Boss?" Buzz started up nervously, "What's this thingy-ma-jig gonna do?"

"This 'Thingy-ma-jig', as you rust-buckets call it, is going to allow me to see into, travel in and out of, and interact with the human world. With that in mind, I shall find a way to stop that so-called 'Cybersquad' from ever coming here again. Then... Cyberspace will be MINE!!!" Hacker cackled dramatically.

The two underlings exchanged glances once more. Then, they started to chuckle along, as well.

* * *

Tobey entered his bedroom without a sound. Dragging his feet, he sat down on the edge of his bed. He never before realized just how useless the library could be when he had to rely on it most. The more he tried to hate the library, though, the more his thoughts drifted back to continuing the subject he had pondered in the library- Wordgirl.

Yes, Tobey's whole life was a conundrum, and Wordgirl was the biggest paradox of it all. Did he want to just have a 'bot squeeze the breath out of her... or did he want her for himself? To just make up his mind somehow, and achieve either objective, would be such a relief.

_'But neither could truly be,'_ he thought. She probably hated his guts- most of all for that homing device incident a few months back, he was willing to bet- and since he occasionally hated hers, such a union could offer nothing. Likewise, there was no way he'd be able to make a robot that could actually teach the superheroine a lesson.

But for all this, for all the confusion in his life, there was one thing Tobey was sure of: he hated how the world functioned. Bullies who picked on him for his not-so-athletic figure, the teachers at school who never even gave him a chance at theater auditions...

Sometimes, he wished he could just teleport away from it all. To be whisked away to some parallel land, and to find a niche there... oh, what a rejoiceful thought. He wouldn't have to worry about Wordgirl or ostracization anymore. He could just... be.

This was the last straw. He bounced off of his bed, headed over to his desk, and began some new sketches. Boy, was he going to punish that darned city good tomorrow...

* * *

Well, how was it? Please, tell me what you think! As a developing writer, I need all the help I can get.


	2. Prologue to the Advent

Here we are with the second chapter. Believe it or not, I've spent much diligent time on this. About four days and a night or two, to be exact. So, fellow intellectuals, it is my honor to present this. Now, be warned- this particular chapter focuses on what's going on in Preposterocity (Wordgirl's side of the story), rather than both worlds. Don't worry, that doesn't mean Cyberchase will have a lesser role- This is just how the puzzle piece fits, as it were.

I only own this story. I do _not_ own Wordgirl or any underlying licenses. The show and all of it's characters, settings, and other structural elements are Copyright and Trademark to Soup2Nuts and PBS. I also don't own Cyberchase. It is Copyright and Trademark to PBS.

* * *

This was bad. Very, very bad. As in, this beast's pressure and resilience was too much- even for her.

The creature stood its ground. The mutant's body frightfully seemed large enough, but it was its three uneven-in-length arms that made this thing so intimidating: One long and fat, another, slightly thinner and even longer, and a third, scrawny one that was the longest of all.

The Energy Monster and The Birthday Girl had been intimidating foes, and Mousezilla was tougher than nails. Yet, for all these foes' power, none could match that of what she faced now. The short and first long arm would hover, as the longest one circled around in choppy, quick jerks. Her eyes would follow whichever arm passed her eye and got her attention. And now-

"Miss Botsford!"

"Ack!"

Becky Botsford looked up. Mr. Dannes was giving a slightly disappointed stare. Becky did a sheepish forced chuckle, not daring to lose eye contact with him. She had been watching the wall clock for what felt like forever, though she ironically had not kept track of the actual time, per se- just the passing minutes.

"Miss Botsford, have you worked on the review at all?" The tutor asked. Now, Becky looked down- partially in shame- knowing it was a rhetorical question. Her untouched math paper lied on her desk for all to see.

"If you don't mind," Mr. Dannes continued, "I would like to speak with you during recess today."

The young lady was silent for a moment as she took this in. "Yes, Mr. Dannes," she complied, a hint of drowsiness in her tone. Mr. Dannes raised an eyebrow, and turned to continue giving his lecture to the rest of the class.

Becky resisted the urge to slam her head on the desk right then and there. She had agreed to meet with Violet during the break, so she'd have to explain to her friend the humiliating cause for her absence. And she'd have to come up with a way to omit the truth that was half of why she had been distracted. It was hard having superpowers, let alone being her alter-ego, Wordgirl. Yes, whenever a villain struck and local security couldn't handle it, Becky would head off as Wordgirl to take care of it. Quite a task, it was- especially if the crimes were happening late at night. Which they had been. Which, in turn, was a big part of why the past few days had seen her dozing off in math class. Besides, it wasn't her fault that math was so useless. It was a tolerable class to do, fair enough, but other than the four main operations, she saw no practical, evident use for most of the material.

_Beep-Beep-Beep!_

Upon hearing this sound, the teacher gave an addendum for the study material as all the other students stuffed their bags and headed for the door.

"Oh, _now_ it rings," Becky groaned, before re-packing her own bag and following suit. When she left the door, she tried to fill her head with different things to think about. Like maybe last night's episode of The Pretty Princess and Sparkling Pony Power Hour- which she had missed. Dang it.

She tried again. Perhaps she should think about the next class. Oh, boy- Art Appreciation Class. Granted, Violet was there to talk with, but apart from that, the class was abominable. It was impossible to understand, and had no purpose, anyway. In fact, Violet would probably be busy painting or listening to the teacher's instructions, thus eliminating any chance of long conversation. Shoot.

"Hey, Becky!" said a familiar voice. Becky looked up quickly with a gasp- then relaxed.

"Hey, Scoops," Becky said with a bit of feigned enthusiasm, "how are you?"

"Oh, I'm doing great! I recently got a new camera to get footage with- it's really cool!"

"How so?" Becky asked in half-hearted interest.

"It's called 'the Explorer-Cam Alpha-500'. It can be wirelessly connected to any computer you want, so anything you record goes directly to the Hard Drive."

"Uh... Wow. But, what's that useful for? The Daily Rag is a newspaper, not a show." Becky asked. Now, both her interest and disinterest in the subject had been piqued.

"Well, since it gets footage to the computer quickly and safely, I can get a story on tape and submit it to the Big City Times."

"I see. So, you're going to promulge your talent with what you tape with that camera," Becky responded in understanding.

"Exactly!" Todd said enthusiastically, "that's exactly wha-" Scoops stopped talking for a moment to take in what Becky had said. This yielded nothing. Becky wondered why Scoops had suddenly stopped.

"Oh," Becky said, realizing what was the matter, "Sorry. To 'promulge' something means to make it known to others."

"Oh, I get it! Well, yes, I plan to _promulge_ myself to the Big City Times and show them..."

Becky continued to just let him speak. Todd Ming, or "Scoops" as many called him, simply continued speaking of any and every recent topic relating to journalism he could think of, related to his camera or not. Even though Becky was not surprised by this, she still sometimes wondered how he could so easily transform a topic. Usually, the girl actually listened (it could be enlightening on occasion, and it passed the time), but today, she simply didn't have the attention span to converse intelligently for long.

"... so now, I'm investigating. If Tobey really is working on improving the computer chips of his robots-"

Becky stopped walking. The question of how Scoops had changed subjects so quickly was no longer crossing her mind.

"Wh-what did you say?" she asked. If what she just heard was true, then...

"Y'know, that rumor that Tobey's working on making his robots smarter," Scoops said.

Becky's stomach felt like turning. There were many people and monsters in Preposterocity that reared their ugly heads sometimes. One of the most frequent- and potentially most destructive- of these was Theodore McCallister III. His robots were bad enough already- if they were made to be smarter, it'd be more trouble on her part.

"Hey," Becky said in a moment of realization, "you haven't seen him around today, have you?"

"You mean Tobey? Nope, I-" Scoops paused. "Wait a minute... maybe it's true after all. And if that new creation attacks, Wordgirl should be on the scene in no time. What a story this could make!"

No response.

"Becky?"

Becky just continued to fast-walk to the Art Appreciation class. This whole superhero thing was starting to take it's toll on her. If Tobey's inventions got more powerful, they might not just be a nuisance against her superpowers anymore. Then again, though, this could all be an overreaction on her part.

"Yes, that's it," she reasoned. She was simply being paranoid, is all. "I mean, seriously," she continued, laughing as she mentally slapped herself, "It couldn't possibly happen today... right?" Becky started rediculing herself- if she kept this fear up, before long, she'd have her eyes open for warp holes. How laughable!

The next thing Becky knew was that the bell had rung, and thankfully, she was standing in front of her easel.

* * *

"One more twist for this one," said Tobey as he put all his force behind the wrench in his hand. Just a bit further, and...

"There!"

Tobey tossed the wrench over his shoulder, landing it perfectly into the toolbox it had come from. The boy genius backed up a bit (and almost tripped over the power cable to a computer in the process) to get a better view of his newly finished robot model- the Buster 1000. Like all his other "special" robots, this one's shape was essentially his usual robot model- an almost fifty-foot cylindrical body with a rocket-like head and long arms and legs with no defined elbows- but with added features. In this case, the hands and feet were armor-plated, with spikes at the knuckles and soles, respectively.

"It's... beautiful," Tobey said with tiny tears of pride welling up. He usually didn't- scratch that- he _never_ missed school for something like this, but from what he understood, he'd not yet been contacted about coming back since the recent day he'd been suspended. Besides, he figured, he was barely tolerated on the Woodview Elementary School campus anyway. Back to the subject at hand: With this new robot, he'd definitely make the city realize just what a mistake it was to mess with the great Theodore McCallister the Third!

Wiping the proud water from his eyes, Tobey started walking to the exit of his makeshift, robot-tinkering garage. He stopped in his tracks as he remembered something. Something very important. He pivoted around on one foot, speed-walked back to the robot, and...

_Doing!_

Tobey loved doing that. For some reason, tapping his robots' metal exteriors never got old. Nor did what he was going to do to the city in about... an hour or so. He'd been sweating this whole time he'd been working, after all- he needed time to bathe and change.

As the boy left, his stomach actually churned a bit. He knew the destruction he caused with his robots was devastating, especially when he struck buildings that weren't abandoned. But even knowing that the things he did often damaged the morale and security of the city's people, even when he simply walked through the streets with his robots without destroying structures, he couldn't help it sometimes. It brought a sort of addictive thrill, and more significantly, it got him the recognition that so many people would refuse him otherwise. In fact, if he got more respect, he probably-

No. Nothing controlled him. Especially not these mushy thoughts encroaching upon him. Shaking the matter from his mind, he stepped out and sealed the door of his garage quietly- and with that, left to tidy himself up.

* * *

Thank you for reading, friends. Fear not- the next chapter will see Cyberchase's return. Mu-ha-ha-ha...


	3. Tobey Strikes!

Hi, everyone! Itanu here, with the third chapter of "Words of the Matrix". I'm sorry for the long wait, everybody- I was occupied for a while just after I finished chapter two, but I finally managed to get my stuff together and find the time to do this. Now, let's get started!

I do not own Wordgirl, Cyberchase, or any affiliated characters. Both are owned by PBS Kids, and Wordgirl is also owned by Soup2Nuts. And of course, both are kept alive by contributions by viewers like you. Thank you!

* * *

Becky groaned, tapping her fingers on the desk she was in. She had come to the Math class at recess time, as she had been instructed to do. And now, it was _her_ waiting on the teacher while he did paperwork, rather than the other way around.

Becky generally didn't mind lectures, understanding their necessity. However, even she had a more youthful side that occasionally surfaced. When that ever-so-shy-to-appear side came into play, her readiness to receive the lecture was more from a wish to get it out of the way than to understand the message. This was one of those times.

Becky was starting to exhale deeply, so as to suppress a yawn, when she heard the rustling of Mr. Dannes getting up out of his chair.

_'Finally,'_ Becky thought, _'I've been waiting forever.'_ Becky mentally slapped herself for saying this- she usually wasn't so impatient, especially for something related to school.

Sure enough, Mr. Dannes stood up and paced on until he stood at front of the row of desks in which Becky's seat was the third. He turned to Becky, with a sort of look that inadvertently transferred a 'Now you're in for it' look, grabbed a desk from the front of the row, spun it around gently, and sat down. He was now at eye-level with Becky.

"Now, Becky," Mr. Dannes sighed, "I would like to know if you've had any difficulties lately. Have you been getting enough sleep?" He continued in a firm, but not angered, voice.

Becky was taken aback a little by this sudden show of concern- she had expected a one-sided conversation when she had first walked in. Still, the young fifth-grader didn't want to press this luck, so she responded as coolly as she could, "Yes, sir".

No sooner had she said this, though, than a yawn escaped her jaws, too quickly for her to suppress. She immediately pulled her hand in front of her mouth and tried in vain to fight it, until her mouth involuntarily shut and it had ended. Mr. Dannes lifted an eyebrow at this; he was obviously in disbelief of what she had said. Becky opened her mouth once more- this time, to speak- but couldn't think of anything sensible to say.

"I'd also like to know," the teacher added, "if you have any problem with the material itself."

Becky's brow rose. "What do you mean?" she asked, puzzled by the question.

"What I mean is, does the Math itself stump you? Maybe you just don't feel like it's important?"

"No! No, no, no, no!" Becky frantically defended, startling the teacher a bit, "I think it's important! I know it's important! I don't-"

"All right, all right," Mr. Dannes responded calmly after the shock of Becky's outburst had passed. Becky suddenly realized what she had done, and let out a nervous chuckle, averting her eyes sheepishly.

Mr. Dannes sighed. He was no stranger to explaining to students _that_ math mattered in the real world. But very seldom was a case like this, in which he had to explain _how._ He really had no idea of the means by which he could relate such information to a fifth-grader understandably. Even though, admittedly, Becky was one of the brightest bulbs in the bunch.

At that moment, an idea hit him.

"I understand that it isn't obvious how to deal with math out in the real world," the man said, getting the attention of the young girl who'd been unnerved by the silence, "and I know for a fact that you're one of the brightest fifth-graders in my class. So I tell you what," Mr. Dannes continued as he pushed himself out of the chair he'd been sitting in, "I'll type up a worksheet that has problems showing real-life applications of what we've got. And I'll give you a completed version of the review for you to copy." The teacher sat down at his computer as he added, "and if you complete that sheet, you can turn it in for extra credit. Capiche?"

Becky sighed. She wasn't exactly thrilled, but a chance to make up some lost credit for a required class was too good an offer to pass up. "Yes, sir," she said.

* * *

"Ha-ha-ha-ha!" Go, my Buster 1000! When you get there, crush everything in your way!" Tobey cackled as the robot he was standing on the shoulder of headed to the industrial part of the city.

"Yes, Tobey," the machine replied in a monotone voice, not changing its pace as it did so.

"And don't fall victim to that obnoxious heroine, Wordgirl! Understand?" Tobey coached.

"Yes, Tobey," the machine responded once more.

"Hm," Tobey muttered as he looked down at his vest, "I wonder if these clothes make me look fat..."

"Yes, Tob-"

"Silence!"

Tobey's eyes returned to the city. He narrowed his gaze, and smiled. "Let's get to work..."

* * *

11:30. That was the time now. Recess would be over in fifteen minutes, and Becky was not anywhere in sight.

"I wonder where she is," Violet sighed. "She does this so often... I wonder if she's okay?"

"Hey, Violet!" A familiar voice sounded from behind Violet. She turned around and smiled- until she noticed that Becky was gasping for breath. "I'm so sorry for being late! I-"

"Becky, um... are you okay?" Violet asked.

"Me? Okay? Yes- I'm perfectly...!" Becky's nearly crazed attempt to defend herself was stopped in its tracks by another large yawn. When she finally closed her mouth, she managed to croak, "Why would you think I'm not?"

Violet bit her lip, almost afraid to tell her best friend the evidence. Still, between Becky's frilly, almost rugged hair, the heavy pits under her eyes, and the fact she practically had to drag herself almost everywhere she went, Violet's conscience was screaming for her to say something.

"Well, Becky, you've been so distant, so aversive, so... um..."

"Preoccupied?" Becky finished for her friend.

"Yes, that's it! Preoccupied! Thank you!" Violet agreed heartily. While she was indeed grateful to be reminded of the right word, she feigned extra enthusiasm in hope of getting her friend to perk up a bit. Which it didn't.

Violet sighed in disappointment. A silence followed for the next few seconds, and in this time, Violet thought about how to help her friend. She usually tried starting up subjects that both Becky and she herself took interest in, as she attempted earlier in Art Appreciation class, but for the past few days, Becky's ability to hold a long conversation was dissipating. Just now, she had tried pointing out what her condition seemed to be like, even prompting Becky to help her with words- an effort that, contrary to the norm, more or less failed to yield any results. Maybe it was time she just addressed the problem.

"Hey, Becky?" Violet said, breaking the silence.

Becky looked up. "Oh, yeah, I forgot. Let me explain why I was late, please." Violet was silent, prompting Becky to continue. "I had to meet with Mr. Dannes about Math."

"Is that why you've been so preoccupied lately?" Violet inquired.

_Part of it,_ Becky resisted saying. "Yeah, that's right."

Violet offered a friendly smile. At last, she had found out the problem- and had a perfect solution.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Violet said. She continued, "I have all the notes, so if you'd like, we could meet after school, and I could show you them."

Becky raised an eyebrow and brought her hand to her chin. Violet's smile started to dissipate. "What's wrong, Becky?" she asked worriedly.

"Oh, nothing!" Becky assured. "At least, I think nothing," she added. Finally, she admitted, "Are your notes the same stuff we're doing in our classroom?"

"I'm pretty sure they are. So, would you like to meet after school?"

Becky suddenly felt her mood rocket to the point that she wanted to jump up and down right then and there. While the extra credit was good, this could be _the_ rescue boat for her grade-point average in the middle of the sea of uncertainty.

"That sounds great, Violet!" Becky chirped. Violet was surprised by this sudden sign of optimism in her friend's attitude, but it was also very pleasing.

"So," Becky continued, "where and when should we meet?"

"Well, I was thinking-"

"HELP!!!" A loud wail interjected. A man in a green jacket with a ponytail was standing outside the schoolyard's fence.

_'Oh, no...'_ Becky thought in fear. She vividly remembered this guy from countless encounters beforehand- he always appeared to announce some kind of villainous activity or another. She didn't have time to pray as he continued, "Somebody help! Tobey's got a brand-new robot, and now he's destroying the city again!"

Everyone was speechless. The man blinked.

"Er... is this the Police Station?"

"No," Violet responded, "the nearest Police Station is five blocks down the road. This is Woodview Elementary's playground."

"Ah, I see," the man smiled in understanding. He then ran to where Violet had said the Station was, continuing to call for help. Becky just barely managed to get rid of the very annoyed look on her face as Violet turned her attention back to her.

"Hey, Violet? I'm really sorry, but I, uh..."

_R-r-r-r-ring!!!_ The school bell rang at that moment, signalling the end of Recess. Oh, great.

"Oh," Becky said with some restraint on her voice that threatened to project the feelings of her tortured super-ego, "how do you like that? Guess it's time to head to our classes. See you Violet, bye!" Becky finished, stringing together the last words as she started fast-walking to her class. She'd figure out something... somehow.

Countless students flocked from different parts of the playground to the building upon hearing the bell. Scoops was among them, heading back on into the building for his own "class". Actually, it was the period the school had designated to him as his time to work at the Daily Rag office. He was lost deep in thought about which of his recently obtained stories to use when he heard a voice crying for help. It was a familiar voice, too- familiar in such a way, even, so that Scoops dropped what he was doing and listened. Sure enough, the guy who always seemed to expose where a nearby crime or catastrophe was happening was running alongside the outside of the fence line, calling for help. Scoops didn't even need to stop the man to ask him anything- the young reporter saw a giant robot not too far away. Scoops bit his lip lightly. Generally, he held off on stories during school hours, but Wordgirl was probably going to be there...

No! He would not risk getting in trouble over something he had seen a million times already! No way!

_Seven minutes later..._

...The next thing Scoops knew was that he was practically charging into the Daily Rag office to retrieve his camera and check out.

"Hey, Everybody!" Scoops called to the other students, as well as the supervising teacher, in the room.

"Hey, Todd!" the Teacher alone responded, then looked back down at her paperwork. The absence of other students might have had something to do with that, but Scoops didn't care at the moment.

"Hey, Teach? I'm going to go interview the... Lunch Lady about... um... food prices! Yes, that's it, food prices! I'll be right back, alright?" Scoops fibbed, slightly cringing, as he was not very used to doing so. The teacher simply nodded in approval while continuing to read. The robot didn't seem all that far away- maybe Scoops could get his story and get back to school before the lunch bell rang.

Scoops headed out the door, and almost reached the front exit when...

_'Oops,'_ Scoops thought, and pivoted around on one foot and headed back to the press room to pick up that one important thing he needed.

_'Can't forget this,'_ Scoops reaffirmed to himself as he picked up his new Explorer Camera, and a hard drive to plug into it. And with that, he shot out of the building and to the scene of the crime like there was no tomorrow.

* * *

"No," Hacker sighed with a very heavily annoyed undertone. Last night, his machine had received its final necessities from his goons, and a few touch-ups from him. He had woken up from his slumber early this morning to get started on the use of his machine. If he could locate the members of the Cybersquad, he figured, he could track and destroy them. This is what he had been trying to do for the past two hours.

The Cyborg tried another button combination. And another. And yet another. And yet one more. At last, it was too much to keep contained.

"Argh!" The green man yelled, "I can't take this anymore!"

Almost immediately, metallic footsteps approached, signaling the arrival of Buzz and Delete, still in their nightcaps. The two stopped when they saw their boss crouched over and rubbing his temples.

"Hey, Boss! What's the matter?' Buzz called out. No response, save for some grumbling.

"Err… did we do something wrong?" Delete asked timidly.

"For once, no," Hacker replied coldly. He continued, "I don't have even a single clue as how to find where that blasted Cybersquad is! All I've found is that most humans are a bunch of imbeciles!"

Indeed, when Hacker had first begun looking through the computer screens of the human world those two hours ago, he'd not yet realized that he didn't have any way to track down his enemies. Instead, he started using what little he knew of the signals that were made when Motherboard summoned the kids. When that failed, he was left doing guesswork, which was mostly getting him to computers with no one in their sights. Worse still, every computer he saw through which actually let him see the inhabitants of Earth revealed that people from this other world were a bunch of negligent ignoramuses.

"Uh... but Boss, why do we care about how dumb or not these people are?" Buzz asked curiously.

"Because," Hacker replied slowly through his teeth, slowly raising his voice as he continued to talk, "this is making the idea that three young people from this world beat me time after time all the more difficult to swallow!"

While their boss wasn't actually yelling, Buzz and Delete concluded, he was loud enough that they could tell he was not wanting to be trifled with at the moment. Of course, he never really was, but now, the case even more so than ever.

"And," Hacker muttered under his breath, "I was hoping I could have one of these organic Earthlings help me."

Buzz and Delete blinked. "W-What'd you say, boss?" Delete inquired.

"Oh, never mind." Hacker turned around and continued to operate the controls.

* * *

"Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha! Yes, Buster 1000, that's it!" Tobey nearly maniacally encouraged his robot, as it walked through the streets of the city. The young boy-genius's eyes wandered to the local small-time arcade. An even larger grin than his already-present smile stretched across his face.

"Buster!" Tobey commanded, and having gotten the robot's attention, continued, "Go crush that wretched building over there with the big joystick on top. Step on it!" he added, pointing his finger at the arcade.

"Yes, Tobey," the robot complied, and headed over to the destination indicated by his master.

Just then, a yellow-orange streak came out of nowhere and stopped in front of the robot. As soon as the streak stopped moving, it dissipated to reveal...

"Wordgirl!" Tobey nearly squealed. He blinked, cleared his throat, and repeated in a more menacing, displeased voice, "Wordgirl... what do you want?"

"I ought to be asking you the same thing," Wordgirl responded with a scowl on her face, "Now, I'm going to give you a choice this time. Just stop destroying everything, head on home, and I won't have to drive your robot into the ground."

"Hey, wait a minute," Tobey said in realization, ignoring Wordgirl's 'offer', "Where's that infernal side-kick of yours?"

"Oh, Huggy!" Wordgirl stammered. She was startled that Tobey had taken the time to make such an observation. Bob, otherwise known as Captain Huggy Face, was sick at the moment- something Becky really didn't want to disclose to any nemesis of hers.

"Well, um... er... don't change the subject!" Wordgirl finally said, "Take my offer and go home or don't and get in big, big trouble with your mommy!

"Pft! What do I look like, a toddler? Why don't I crush you right now?!"

Before the red-plaid girl could answer, yet another one of those darned yawns threatened to come up.

_'Oh, No!'_Wordgirl thought, _If I yawn, he'll figure out how tired I'm feeling, and there's no way he'll surrender if that happens!'_

Wordgirl tried valiantly to supress the foul beast relaxing her throat and straining her jaw- with surprising success. But, there was no way to stop the tears, droopy eyes, and tidbit of the yawn itself that came through.

"Ooh, what's this," Tobey teased, "Is this Wordgirl, mighty hero of the Fair City, exhausted?"

"I am not exhausted!" Wordgirl snapped back.

"Oh, I'm _so_sorry. Would you prefer 'tired'? Or maybe 'wiped out' for a more general implication? Hmm?"

"Tobey, you've got to be the most pretentious villain in this whole city!" Wordgirl interjected, with a mix of intended meaning and the wish for him to simply shut up.

At this point, many spectators were watching this unfolding argument. Among them was Scoops, just catching up to the scene.

"Aha!" Scoops exclaimed, "I've finally got it!" The young reporter came to a halt, placed the hard drive into his Camera, propped it up on his shoulder, and began taping as the heroine and the young villain got into a heated debate.

* * *

"No," Hacker muttered. He pulled up another place on his computer. "No," he said with more grit in his voice. He pulled up another coordinate. "No!" he yelled.

Buzz and Delete, who had been dismissed from the room earlier but had stayed close, peeked in.

"No, no, NO!!!" Hacker yelled, hitting his fist on the side of the desk on which the computer's keyboard sat, "I give up! I haven't been able to find a single gifted human who could help me, nor have I been able to find those blasted brats!" With this, he raised his fist high, and brought it down hard on the center of the keyboard.

The screen sizzled, buzzed, and warped its images- then went black. It came back up again, did the exact same cycle again. It came back again once more, but this time, it didn't go back out. Instead, it came to a screen with a very unfocused, blurry image that seemed to be bouncing about a little bit. It started to re-focus itself, and when it had done so, it yielded something Hacker couldn't quite conceive. There was an indistinct, red dot up in the sky next to the most unusual building anyone could ever imagine- a titanic construct that seemed to balance on two separate stalks. It seemed that, whatever this computer screen was he was looking through, it was being held by an unsteady hand, and whoever this hand belonged to was on the ground looking up.

"Oops," a young voice that seemed to be coming from behind the screen said, "Where's that zoom button? Ah- here it is!"

Hacker's interest was now piqued. The dot in the sky started to get larger, until it turned out to be a most peculiar sight: a little, levitating girl with a red outfit and a flowing, yellow cape. What's more, the giant, odd building turned out to be have a young, blonde-haired boy on top of it. As the screen zoomed in even more, and regained focus, the large building turned out to be what could only be described as a giant metal man- the boy was on its shoulder.

Hacker squinted, rubbing his eyes to make sure that what he was seeing was real. Indeed, that girl was flying. That was definitely wierder than he could imagine, fair enough, but even more strange, that huge, metallic-looking thing she was facing was a cyborg. A _cyborg_. In the human world, outside of Cyberspace. Hacker had no idea it was even possible- until now.

"Buzz! Delete!" the green cyborg called, "Get over here- now!"

The two goons entered in, trying their best not to reveal the nervous wrecks they were right now, out of fear that Hacker might suddenly wanted to melt them down.

"Look at this!" Hacker said once they got over to the position of standing behind his chair, pointing at the robot on the screen. Buzz and Delete did as commanded- just as they did so, the robot suddenly tried to grab the girl in the air.

"Whoa! Is that a human-?" Buzz was cut off by Hacker's hand coming over his mouth. Buzz got the hint, and the three watched on in awe as the fight unfolded.

* * *

Well, sorry for the abrupt ending, everybody. I've spent quite a bit of effort on this, and besides, I feel that the story would flow best- and I'd do a better job of remembering to update it- if this is where I call it a day. Also, note that originally, this chapter was going to be much longer, but alas! I realized that the longer I make this chapter, the shorter- and more difficult to write- the next chapter would be. So, I figured that this chapter advances the plot enough for me to call it a resting point. Next chapter, we see the fight between Wordgirl and Tobey (or Buster 1000, depending on your Point of View), as well as the aftermath of it.

Thank you for your audience, everybody! Reviews are appreciated.


	4. Rejuvenation of Genius

Hello, Everybody! Itanu here, with the next chapter of "Words of the Matrix". Thanks, everyone, for your patience!

I do not own Wordgirl or Cyberchase. Both are Copyright and Trademark to PBS Kids, and Wordgirl is also owned by Soup2Nuts. Both Shows- as well as this fanfiction- are made possible by contributions from viewers like you. Thank you!

* * *

"Why, you little… I most certainly am not pretentious!" Tobey fumed. He turned to the Buster 1000. "Buster! Grab her!" He commanded.

The giant automaton complied, shooting out its open hand so fast that Wordgirl barely had time to dodge it. Luckily for her, she managed to do so in the small window of time she had.

"Ha!" Wordgirl mocked as she closed in for a punch to the robot's frame, "considering that you act so high-and-mighty, despite the fact you can't even beat me at anything-!"

Wordgirl was knocked out of the air and into a building by a flick of Buster's hand- which, she was surprised to notice, was actually the same hand that the titanic metal construct had tried to grab her with- something that Tobey's past robots, which were already painful to deal with, could never do so quickly.

"Oh, my, Wordgirl, were you about to say that I _am_ pretentious?" Tobey bragged, "Nonsense, I don't act like I'm something that I'm not, per se… I just usually don't get recognition for the instances in which I _do_ validate my claims. Such as these magnificent metal toys of mine. That quick reflex you just experienced is due to my recent renovation of my robots' computer system, you know."

Wordgirl rolled her eyes as Tobey ranted- and then, smirked. She had an idea- if she could disable the robot's Central Processing Unit, it'd be useless. Of course, she didn't actually know _what_ a CPU really was, but it didn't matter at the moment. She followed her logic, and charged at the robot's head. Her fist extended, she picked up speed, going faster and faster, surpassing the robot's defensive hand motions, until at last, she hit it!

"OUCH!!!"

And twisted her wrist in the process.

"Nice move, Wordgirl," Tobey lauded, slowly clapping his hands to further fuel the mockery, "But this time, it's going to take more than brute force to bring down this robot."

"Wha- but, I… err, how-?" Wordgirl stammered for a moment, wishing that this nightmare of hers wasn't coming true.

"I designed the Buster 1000," Tobey started, deciding not to wait for the question he already knew was coming to be finished, "in such a way that mere power will not bring it down."

"I was taking it easy on you with that one, Tobey," Wordgirl bluffed.

The Buster 1000 started to lift up its guard again, but put it down upon Tobey waving his hand. This did not go unnoticed.

"Wait, what was that for?" Wordgirl asked.

"What, me waving my hand?" Tobey confirmed, then continued with a chuckle, "I was merely instructing the robot not to defend itself this time- if you don't take all day to hit it, that is."

"Err… kay?" Wordgirl muttered. She would think it to be a trap, under the usual circumstance of her being charging distance from the robot. However, she was practically mere meters away from the Robot's face now- yet, as Tobey said, the robot was doing nothing. Nor was he, for that matter.

The red-clad girl decided to take her chances. She zoomed in and did another punch- which didn't work. Now that she was right in front of the Buster's face, she threw a hook. And then an uppercut. A whole flurry of fatigued strikes that did nothing followed.

Tobey took this moment of Wordgirl being distracted to gaze upon her in wonder. Even with impossible odds mounted against her, she continued to fight. That… was something wonderful. Maybe now, he could blackmail her into having some ice cream with her.

_'No!'_ Tobey criticized himself, _'I must play hard-to-get a little longer; that should increase my odds.'_

"How on Earth do I beat this thing?" Wordgirl yelled, snapping Tobey out of his trance. The boy genius took a moment to gather his bearings before responding.

"Ah, well, um… I could tell you," said Tobey somewhat drearily. He then recomposed himself, and continued, "but why would the ever-so-vigilant Superheroine of Fair City need help, hmm?"

Wordgirl tried not to focus on the deriding words as she continued to launch punches at the robot; largely because she was afraid she'd end up reflexively punching the teeth out of the boy and face a lawsuit, but also because she couldn't afford to lose what little morale she had left at the moment. As it already was, her punches were, by no will of her own, getting weaker and weaker. Wordgirl's punches also were beginning to get slower and slower.

"Alright," Tobey sneered, "Here's a hint- use the Shear Stress equation!"

Wordgirl would've bit her lip, if she weren't numb all throughout her body; she could have sworn that Mr. Dannes had gone over Shear Stress in an on-the-side conversation a few days ago in Algebra… but she remembered none of it.

At last, the pint-sized heroine stopped. She could take no more, and her eyes were starting to shut against her will. Now, Wordgirl was steadily drifting downward.

"Alright Tobey," Wordgirl said weakly, "what do you want? I'll do it- just leave the city alone."

Tobey was in shock. Had he actually beaten Wordgirl?

The boy slapped himself to make sure that he wasn't just dreaming. He was still on his robot's shoulder, so he must have been awake- he _had_, indeed, beaten Wordgirl.

And had Wordgirl actually offered him whatever he wanted? Tobey slapped himself again. Yup, she'd done just that.

"Alright then, Wordgirl," Tobey announced triumphantly, "I want you to join me tomorrow for a cone of ice cream."

Becky grimaced. Superhero or not, she couldn't stand this bragging nitwit for ten-to-twenty minutes at a time. But swallowing her response for however long Tobey wanted? Oh, the agony- she couldn't contemplate even surviving it. Still, the city had to be safe; she had no choice now.

"Sure," the girl growled through clenched teeth, "I'll…"

Suddenly, a loud whirring sound rang through the air. Tobey was in shock for a moment, then grimaced. Without turning his head, he led his eyes over to the corner of his sight- as he suspected, the lights in his robot's eyes had died out.

Wordgirl looked up robot, too. As soon as she saw that the robot's power lights had gone out, she zoomed off with what little energy she still had onto the flat roof of a nearby skyscraper. She put her hands together, muttered a little prayer, crossed her heart, and passed out from exhaustion.

"Tobey!" A woman's voice echoed loudly. The little blonde boy whom the name addressed, now sitting down (still on the robot's shoulder), grumbled. He knew what to expect next.

* * *

On the ground, it took thirty seconds of silence for someone to start clapping, and then for all the nearby people to break out in thunderous applause. Once again, the Fair City's superheroine had triumphed over evil!

Not everyone witnessing the battle, though, was on Wordgirl's side.

* * *

"Oh… my… Motherboard," Hacker barely managed to say as he watched with building euphoria the scene being viewed by the camera.

"What's wrong, Boss?" Buzz and Delete asked simultaneously, eyes opened wide. One thing anyone who knew Hacker would know is that he was never at a loss for speech- _never_.

Hacker ignored his goons' question. Pressing the pause button for the video he was seeing, he continued to try to summon some kind of response out of himself.

"This Boy is like none I've ever seen- scratch that, even_ imagined_- from... anywhere..."

As Hacker said this, a smirk entered his face, which evolved over the course of a few seconds into an evil grin from ear to ear. Buzz and Delete could tell that, for the first time in a long time, the Hacker's wheels were turning. Not fantasizing unrealistically about crushing the Cybersquad, nor reviewing his past failures to keep himself angy; No. Any fool could look at him at this moment and be unable to honestly deny that he was formulating a new master plan.

"Er... Boss? Didn't that boy just lose that fight?"

Hacker merely sighed to let off the frustration that he would usually respond to such a comment with. A few moments of silence passed, wracking the henchmens' nerves.

"Buzz... Delete..." Hacker said in a calm, gritty, and- surprisingly enough- _pleased_ voice, a grinning smirk on his face as he broke the silence, "might I request a meeting this afternoon? We'll need some time to discuss... an idea."

Hacker got up out of his chair, and walked to the exit of the chamber, rubbing his hands together deviously. The smile never left his face.

When their boss had left, Buzz and Delete stared blankly. Delete looked at Buzz with a confused face, and Buzz merely shrugged in response. The two robots looked behind them at the still image of the red-clad human girl lying down on a rooftop, the human boy sitting cross-armed at the edge of the frame. The two cyborgs knew that they were each thinking the same thought: This plan, whatever it would be, was definitely going to be different from all other schemes they'd been a part of to date.

* * *

Well, there it is. Hopefully, you've had as much fun (or better yet, even more) reading this far as I've had writing it. The next chapter shall follow Tobey a bit, _and _reveal the beginning of Hacker's plan.

R&R, Please!


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